NCAA FB

At 8-0, No. 3 Cowboys approaching best start ever

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP)

The Cowboys are off to an 8-0 start for only the second time in
the program's history and seem to be in the driver's seat for a
shot at the BCS championship if they're able to win their final
four games.

It'll take some record-breaking performances to get there.

Oklahoma State (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) has never won more than nine
straight games in a season and a win Saturday night against No. 17
Kansas State (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) would give the program its
second-longest winning streak ever.

Gundy led the Cowboys to a 7-0 start in 2008 and a 6-0 start
last season before losing, but it's getting to the point that
anything less than a 12-0 regular season this year will be a
disappointment.

''It's more difficult each week. I think anybody that says that
it's not is probably just giving you some kind of a coach's line,''
Gundy said Monday. ''It's only human nature as you progress through
and you see where you're at.

''There's more attention drawn to your team, there's more
attention drawn to players individually and national awards for
individual players that are out there. My honest opinion is that if
anybody says that there's not more pressure put on them as a season
progresses, I'd like to know how they avoid it.''

The Cowboys are starting to get all sorts of individual
attention.

Quarterback Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon each received
letters last week from the Heisman Trophy Trust informing them
they're considered candidates for the award. They're both also
semifinalists for the Maxwell Award, given to college football's
top player, and Weeden is a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien
National Quarterback Award.

The challenge is not getting caught up in the strong start and
letting it affect how the season ends.

''You don't have time to reflect on it,'' Weeden said. ''You
really don't. Everything happens so fast, you can't really sit back
and worry about all that. We realize we control our destiny, we
realize we have to keep on winning.

''Being 8-0 is obviously awesome. It's a huge feat but we have
some very critical games left on the schedule.''

Oklahoma State sits third in the BCS standings and is behind
only LSU and Alabama, who play against each other Saturday night
and will likely clear a path for the Cowboys to move into the top
two with a victory.

''You can't slip up. That's the tough part about college
football,'' Weeden said. ''In the NFL, you can lose a couple games
and still go to the playoffs and still win games and still win a
Super Bowl. In college football, you really can't do that.''

The program has made it to 9-0 once before, finishing the 1945
season with that mark after winning the Sugar Bowl. The school,
then known as Oklahoma A&M, finished fifth in the final AP poll
as undefeated Army won the national title.

That season was part of the 13-game winning streak from 1944-46
that's the only double-digit run in school history.

Perfection, though, is a difficult goal to attain. Instead,
Gundy preaches to his players to prepare and then play in such a
way that they won't have any regrets when a game is over.

''Oklahoma State is not going to win every football game they
play during my tenure here as the head coach. I wish I could say we
would, but that's not going to happen,'' Gundy said. ''There'll be
teams that lose games.

''If you lose a football game and somebody beats you, that's OK.
But if you lose a football game because you didn't prepare well and
you didn't play hard, that's not OK.''

Gundy credits Weeden, a 28-year-old who returned to college
after giving minor-league baseball a try, for providing mature
leadership that keeps the Cowboys from getting shaken by the
big-picture pressure that's sure to mount as long as the wins keep
coming.

Gundy said he's sure there are players on the team who talk
about the potential for the school's first national championship
but he encourages it to be at a minimum while they zone in on
preparation from week to week.

''At any point if they lose that focus, then they certainly
increase their chances of losing a game,'' Gundy said.

Some players look back at the 51-41 home loss to Nebraska that
ended last season's run at perfection as an example of what can
happen if Oklahoma State gets too caught up in its success.

''I think that was the one game we'd like to have back. We felt
like as a team we didn't really finish and play great,'' Weeden
said. ''So, that's a bump in the road we don't want to cross
again.

''That's a part of college football. You're not going to win
them all but we want to keep winning as many as we can this year
and keep plugging away and keep fighting.''

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